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Does anyone have this mental challenge or is it just me?
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May 3, 2019 09:36:06   #
Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida
 
SOoooo....for the most part: All that One achieves in Life will have been Self-Inflicted as the story goes.


Trust me on This One.

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May 3, 2019 09:37:14   #
boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander
 
Truth is that most of my images are crap, that's what delete is for. If I shoot 100 photos. maybe 1 or 2 are worth the time to adjust in post. I think it was Ansel Adams who said 12 photos a year is a pretty good crop. To me the images that look better in B&W are those with a very stark look. Even flowers can look more interesting in B&W. This barn just looks wrong in color.


(Download)

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May 3, 2019 09:55:52   #
tomcat
 
fotoman150 wrote:
I like color photos with dark, rich colors and I adjust them so in PP.

When I convert to black and white and try different settings I just can’t make it look as good as other people’s black and white even when I look at YouTube videos and use presets. I just really don’t like black and white but some people can do it really well and it’s acceptable.

Same thing for that light and airy look. Sometimes I think it looks good for weddings. I try that in camera and in PP and it looks like s**t. It just looks overexposed when I do it. Although I saw one person’ light and airy that was so overexposed you could barely tell there was an image in the photo and I felt it was way over done.

And about half the time everyone else’s photography looks better than mine. Even when I get a lot of compliments from my clients and friends.

It’s like I’m my own worst critic. Every so often I create a shot that I’m really proud of.

Does anyone else have these feelings?
I like color photos with dark, rich colors and I a... (show quote)


Ditto on the "light and airy" look. I cannot stand to see that "expression"--I really think it is due to folks that don't know how to adjust the background shutter speed and overexpose it. There is absolutely no reason why the background highlights should blow out with a skilled photographer. The "point and shooters" or the "smwac" are the ones that do this and I detest those images. arrrrrgh.....

Regarding the b/w conversion, try playing with the color filter options in LR (or Nik Silver Efex). Back in the film days, whenever we shot b/w film, we would always slap a yellow filter on the lens to darken the sky. You can adjust these sliders to give you the best gradations between blacks and whites so that the entire image is not gray.

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May 3, 2019 10:12:12   #
rodpark2 Loc: Dallas, Tx
 
Not sure I understand. Do you convert the already edited and deeply saturated shot, or start from the original when converting to B&W. I recommend starting from scratch. In Photoshop I've found the B&W adjustment very important allowing the adjustment of colors separately into B&W, allowing more control and separation of different colors that are similar same tones in monochrome.

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May 3, 2019 10:23:51   #
Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.
 
dancers wrote:
I am not a photographer, it seems to me that you are your own worst enemy!!!

In life, in general, you have to tell yourself every day that you are the BEST!!!!!!!!!!


There's a express train to mediocrity! Better to strive to be the best than to don the cloak empty arrogance.

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May 3, 2019 10:25:56   #
Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb
 
Today our cameras do 90% of our work. The other 10% is us. That is what make the picture and shows your style (which is developed over time).
So now you have your style and go with it. Perfect it and have fun with it.

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May 3, 2019 11:28:33   #
gronet1028 Loc: Wisconsin
 
You start the processing for B&W and High Key from scratch. The conversion used is processed with regard to color and saturation. These may or may not be the qualities you need for a B&W or High Key. Decide the look you want, start from scratch and process until you achieve the desired result.

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May 3, 2019 11:33:52   #
crapshooter Loc: Fox, Alaska
 
That's the reason i use the Name Crapshooter

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May 3, 2019 11:38:55   #
lmTrying Loc: WV Northern Panhandle
 
Blair Shaw Jr wrote:
SOoooo....for the most part: All that One achieves in Life will have been Self-Inflicted as the story goes.


Trust me on This One.


Blair, this is a story I would like to hear, PM if you like.

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May 3, 2019 12:06:01   #
tomad Loc: North Carolina
 
I've found that no matter how good I think one of my photos is, I can always go out on the internet and find one of the same or similar subject that is much better. That just keeps me trying to improve my own work.

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May 3, 2019 12:13:01   #
R.G. Loc: Scotland
 
fotoman150 wrote:
....When I convert to black and white and try different settings I just can’t make it look as good as other people’s black and white.....



From an editing point of view, B&W is not the same as colour. One implication of this point is that things you've taught yourself to avoid when editing colour can be acceptable and even desirable in B&W. For example you may have taught yourself to notice and avoid having blacks and whites that are too solid. That will be especially true of the whites, and you probably see blown whites as a big no-no. However, in B&W, strong blacks and whites are often the very things that make a photo stand out.

The same applies to other things that you are used to seeing as "over-cooking". For example, too much contrast in a colour shot very quickly starts to look like a mistake, whereas in B&W you have to go some before contrast becomes too much.

B&W is often about accentuating things like shape and texture, and when that's the case, colour would typically be a distraction that would weaken the shot. However, even in shots that don't have anything unusual where shape and texture are concerned, B&W can be used to convey a sense of drama, and it can often do that more effectively than colour shots. When that's the case it will often be the extra contrast that achieves the dramatic look.

B&W (and that light, airy look that you mention) works better in some situations than others. Where effects in general are concerned, to get them to work well you need to understand them properly and then choose situations which are appropriate for them. And if you understand them properly you'll know how to enhance them.

The next time you do B&W, try pushing contrast much further than you would normally (i.e. for a colour shot). And try the same thing for sharpening. You might find that that's what's been missing in your B&W editing in the past. And if you like your colour shots dark and moody there's a good chance that you'll like your B&W that way or even more so. Be willing to work the Whites, Highlights, Shadows, Blacks, Brightness and Contrast more than you would with colour.

Your inner critic may be causing you to be over-cautious with your editing. Try getting out of that mind-set by being deliberately more experimental. Push things far more than you would normally and be open-minded about what's acceptable and what isn't. You want to stop short of things looking like a mistake or a complete disaster, but the chances are you haven't been cutting yourself enough slack, and I can't think of a better way to discover new looks that you might like and that you may never have discovered if you'd remained too conservative.

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May 3, 2019 12:39:54   #
10MPlayer Loc: California
 
fotoman150 wrote:
I like color photos with dark, rich colors and I adjust them so in PP.

When I convert to black and white and try different settings I just can’t make it look as good as other people’s black and white even when I look at YouTube videos and use presets. I just really don’t like black and white but some people can do it really well and it’s acceptable.

Same thing for that light and airy look. Sometimes I think it looks good for weddings. I try that in camera and in PP and it looks like s**t. It just looks overexposed when I do it. Although I saw one person’ light and airy that was so overexposed you could barely tell there was an image in the photo and I felt it was way over done.

And about half the time everyone else’s photography looks better than mine. Even when I get a lot of compliments from my clients and friends.

It’s like I’m my own worst critic. Every so often I create a shot that I’m really proud of.

Does anyone else have these feelings?
I like color photos with dark, rich colors and I a... (show quote)
I'm very critical of my own work, probably more so than I am of others. That's why I rarely post pictures. I only do it when I have something I'm proud of.

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May 3, 2019 13:00:59   #
Xanadu Loc: Clay County FL
 
Original color shot converted to B & W.
My eye thinks the B & W is more dramatic.





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May 3, 2019 13:14:25   #
Polock
 
To thien own self be true
there's 7.5 billion people in the world, I'd bet a few million think your pictures are great so keep up the good work

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May 3, 2019 13:17:41   #
lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA
 
fotoman150 wrote:
I like color photos with dark, rich colors and I adjust them so in PP.

When I convert to black and white and try different settings I just can’t make it look as good as other people’s black and white even when I look at YouTube videos and use presets. I just really don’t like black and white but some people can do it really well and it’s acceptable.

Same thing for that light and airy look. Sometimes I think it looks good for weddings. I try that in camera and in PP and it looks like s**t. It just looks overexposed when I do it. Although I saw one person’ light and airy that was so overexposed you could barely tell there was an image in the photo and I felt it was way over done.

And about half the time everyone else’s photography looks better than mine. Even when I get a lot of compliments from my clients and friends.

It’s like I’m my own worst critic. Every so often I create a shot that I’m really proud of.

Does anyone else have these feelings?
I like color photos with dark, rich colors and I a... (show quote)


Well you have limited vision in seeing in only one style. Perhaps study more photos by the master artistic photographers in museums, in books or online a lot. I've appreciated all graphic art to some extent and have studied mainly oil and watercolor painting for many decades.

I convert often too B&W, sometimes intentionally shooting a shot for B&W. I still can think B&W in my mind's eye from my film days.

One trick is I never just desaturate to get B&W I convert to it using the sliders with the color channels in ACR or Ps. Usually lighten yellows, darken reds, darken blue skies, not as much use of the other colors, those get played with case by case. And I also usually crank up the contrast. Your deep colored images should be a good starting place.

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